By Akos Koncs, Hungary / Poverty Activist team February 2024 As a child I was an enthusiast for Africa. I read lots of stories by hunter-writers from the XIX century, I found it very romantic. Later my interest turned from the African natural beauty to the African society, and this was what pushed me to study cultural anthropology in the university. But getting my diploma in my hands I experienced disappointment, because in my country there are no programmes for Africa. Hungary never had any colonies anywhere, maybe this is why we had not much aid programmes to this continent....

By Edson Eduardo, Brazil, Development Volunteer team April 2024 Going to Africa, making a difference, helping people, communities and schools, volunteering, learning new cultures and sharing knowledge is undoubtedly the desire of many students who arrive at CICD for the 10 and 12 month programmes. Sometimes the fear of the new is mixed with the desire to go to the African continent straight away and embark on this adventure, a real mix of emotions and feelings. But you have to remember that it takes one step at a time, everything has its own time. Studies and learning is needed as...

By José Becerra, Gaia Team I arrived to CICD one month and a half ago. Has this period been long? Has it been short? Why or how? Forty five days sounds like the first half of a long football match; each day a minute. It is a perfect moment to look back and enjoy. As an old vinyl record, this article will have an A-side and B-side. The A-side Occasionally I would like to pause my life, so time won’t continue absorbing me towards the road of death. Perhaps it is a very tricky formulation, but I suppose many people feel...

By Carla Barrado, Team Teacher I knew that I did not want to continue being part of this capitalist and consumerist society in which what you do has no value and in which you normally work for someone making that company or that someone grow economically. Therefore I thought that taking this adventure of working as a teacher at 'Another Kind of School' would give me the opportunity to work with others and with myself, not for others and draining myselft to get the profit for others. And every day the phrase 'work with what you like and you will...

By Kelvin Rodrigues, Development Volunteer team October 2023 HOW DO WE PROTECT THE POOREST FROM CLIMATE CHANGE? My considerations while working with Youth in Action project in Zambia, and studying the UNDP Report 2021 on the global situation of poverty. Climate Change is inevitable, as the climate on earth is no longer the same and it has been giving indications that it is only the beginning and that the future will be extreme with regard to the variation of temperatures, rains and extreme droughts. The land is sick, the symptoms are everywhere. Those responsible for incisive measures to reduce the...

By Jeanette Fall, Poverty Activist team February 2023 My name is Jeanette. I'm 45 years old economist. I have worked in the finance department all in my life, in various positions during the last 20 years...so I could try to do almost everything possible there. I am also the proud mother of two grown boys whom I raised alone. In August 2022, I made a big decision – that is after the fact I can say it was a very good one - and joined the CICD 6+12-month program. What did this mean in my case? 6 months Gaia period,...

By Adriana Millalen Rivas, Development Volunteer team February 2023 Engaging in a volunteer programme can be one of the most rewarding experiences in life, particularly when shared interests and passions align. It becomes evident that gratitude is boundless. Why participate in a volunteer programme? There is much to be done in the world beyond what meets the eye, and many of these tasks are within our grasp. Across the globe, there exists a substantial gap; what is abundant in some countries is lacking in others. For this reason, you have the opportunity to effect change. By leveraging your skills, you...

By Kelvin Rodrigues, Development Volunteer team October 2023 Planet Earth 2024: Many believed that this year man would be living a fuller life, full of peace, love, abundance, joys. But this is the scenario for a small portion of the world’s population. What we see today, after so many technological advances in all areas of knowledge that man dominates, are known ills: pandemics, wars, hunger, diseases and the most feared and current of all, climate change that affects mainly the poorest. They are themes that somehow bother so many people, but the majority does not take any position or action...

By Rivanildo Novais, Brazil / Development Volunteer team October 2023 In my point of view, it has always been in practice that you learn. In theories you have artificial learning, but it is in practice, leaving your comfort zone that you really learn, and the CICD College provides us with this, and so it is good for everyone. I'm going to show here an example from me and some teammates and colleagues about what I learned and what they say about the subject. In this photo, you can see me operating a motorised elevator. I had never operated anything like...

By Natalia Benitez, Poverty Activist team August 2023 - getting ready for departure to Youth in Action project, Ndola, Zambia in January 2024! THINGS I NEED FOR THE PROJECT IN AFRICA Traveling to Africa as a volunteer can be an enriching experience, but it is important to prepare properly. Here are essential things I will take with me: 1) Personal hygiene items and basic medical supplies: • Insect repellent and mosquito nets to protect against insect-borne diseases such as malaria. • Sunscreen: The sun in Africa can be intense, and it is best to be protected from the damage that...

By Margarita Barbero, Development Volunteer team February 2023. Today I want to share with you some of the challenges that I and my team encountered during the 6 months of volunteering. My name is Margarita, part of the Fighting with the Poor team that started last February. After 3 months of preparation in England I joined the Pre-Schools supervisor team in DAPP Amalika, a teacher training college located in the southern region of Malawi; a place of warm people, exemplary communities and green surroundings of the Michuri Conservation Nature Reserve but, at the same time, full of challenges to overcome....

By Alejandra Aguilar Bello, Poverty Activist team August 2023 When we are in a programme studying development around the world and we are looking for diversity, inclusion, peace, equality; then how can we talk about an exam to conclude some study periods? Well our People’s Exam is like our school – it’s a “Different Kind of…”! It’s one of the most exciting parts of the programme. It has the objective to conclude and reflect on what we have learned in each period and share it with our audience. So we look for a creative way to present all this. Our...

“Like slavery and apartheid, poverty is not natural. It is man-made and it can be overcome and eradicated by the actions of human beings.” – Nelson Mandela By Mel Pita, Teacher in the Poverty Activist Team / End of October 2023 Hello again… Last time I wrote to you about the second period of the programme – The forces that run the World. Today I will tell you about the current period we are in – Period 3 – The fight of the Poor and Solidarity Humanism. This period lasts for 7 weeks and it is one of the most...

By Peter Gorog, Poverty Activist team August 2023 Welcome, dear reader, to a short story about the school's Building a Better School Weekend, and how everyone in the school is getting involved. Teachers and students alike. Since the building of the school, which is now our home, many years ago (the oldest building is from 1762), so we can use the term VERY OLD. The building and its surroundings require constant maintenance, and we spend a weekend every month on small and large renovations. It can be cleaning, collecting wood, cutting trees, building sports fields or many other tasks for...

By Melanie Pita, Teacher for the Poverty Activist team, August 2023 Hello - this is Mel. This time I will be telling you about the past month of the current DI team at CICD – the Poverty Activist 12 month programme that has started in August 2023. We are 9, me plus 8 students. We started the programme with an Introduction Week and following that, we started a one month period called “The Forces that Run the World”. We are still currently in that period as we took a break into this period to make an investigation and survival trips...

By Peter Gorog, Poverty Activist team August 2023 I'd like to invite you to my little story, my perspective, how I have learned in CICD, what experiences and friends I made, that enriched my life :-) I arrived at the school in January 2023 with a very minimal knowledge of English, which was the first, most difficult and most important task for me, and I had to improve it as quickly as possible. Students from many countries around the world come to the school to learn together, to work hand in hand, helping each other to achieve our common goal...

During the spring and summer, it has been a great help with Ana's support in taking care of our garden farm. Here you see here with our WWOOF-ers! We asked one of the students, Kriszti, to make a small interview for our blog: -Why did you choose to have gardening as responsibility at CICD? Do you have such experience from before? I chose it because I like gardening, I like to see how natural interaction can be managed and how we can live in a beneficial symbiosis. I grew up on a farm and got the knowledge from my grandparents,...

By Silvia Rivas, Poverty Activist Team February 2023 WELCOME TO MOZAMBIQUE! We can say that we are now in the home stretch, before leaving for our destination. Getting to this point has been quite a process. When the day came that we received the job descriptions, we had the choice between a country in Africa or India, but the choice was not only based on the country, but also on the mission and vision that the projects were developing with the communities, and the tasks in which you could collaborate. I remember when I read the 6 projects, and two...

By Jeanette, Poverty Activist team February 2023 Hello, I'm Jeanette...I'm a member of the 12 month team. I arrived to CICD in August 2022 and started my journey here with the Gaia programme. Now I'm a Development Instructor (DI) and according to the plan I will go to Zambia in the middle of July...which I am getting very excited about. This Monday my team passed our People's Exam successfully. That was our second exam since we have started our DI period. It was a big milestone for me because now there is only one closing exam separating us from our...

By Adrian Alvarez Valenzuela, Poverty Activist team August 2022 Adding your grain of sand for a better world Of course, this has to be necessarily the primary reason not to give up on volunteering. When we think about dedicating our time to volunteering, we all do it with the same goal and for the same reason: we firmly believe that a better world is possible, and we want to actively contribute to that change by adding our small grain of sand. And indeed, you will leave that mark and contribute that grain of sand with your collaboration. Depending on the...